You might have general questions about the diagnosis or symptoms of dementia. Perhaps you’re interested in the treatments currently available, or the risk factors for developing the condition. You will find the answers in these pages.

To have the best chance of changing the outlook for people with dementia promising ideas must be driven through the development process and into clinical trials in people as quickly as possible.

Clinical trials represent the final stage of the research journey towards developing new treatments.

Alzheimer’s Research UK has launched a dedicated fund to support this crucial area of research. Our Global Clinical Trials Fund will support clinical trials across the world testing new experimental drugs, existing drugs developed for other conditions, and non-drug interventions – as all have the potential to make a huge impact on people’s lives.

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We will invest in early-stage clinical trials, called phase I and phase II trials, which aim to test the safety and start to explore the effectiveness of potential new treatments. By supporting more ideas at this critical stage of the process, we’re pushing breakthroughs closer to the people who need them the most.

We are taking a comprehensive and flexible approach to supporting clinical trials. Our fund will:

support phase I and II clinical trials to test safety and effectiveness of new treatments

focus exclusively on the diseases that cause dementia

fund studies investigating both drug and non-drug approaches

fund drug trials that look at both new experimental drugs and the potential for existing medicines for other conditions to be ‘re-purposed’ for use in dementia

both fully-fund trials and partially-fund larger trials in partnership with other funders

be open to researchers in the UK and across the world.

Clinical trials are desperately needed to deliver new treatments to the hands of people with dementia who have already waited far, far too long for new developments. A dedicated fund for innovative early phase clinical trials is exactly what the dementia research community needs”

Prof Clive Holmes, Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist and Professor of Biological Psychiatry at the University of Southampton.

We’re also supporting the public in volunteering to take part in research, allowing more important clinical research to take place than ever before. Find out how you can sign up and make a difference in dementia research.